MAP6 members Paul Walsh and Barry Falk will be hosting an evening to launch their books at The Photobookcafe in London. Paul Walsh will be sharing insights into his book 'Walking With Strangers' recently published by Another Place Press, and Barry Falk will be sharing his book ‘In Search of Amnesia’, published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg.
Both photographers touch upon a number of interconnected themes with this work, including exploring sacred pilgrimages sites, collective memory and personal loss, transgenerational trauma and religious identity. With both book projects the theme of connecting with others has been key: for Paul it was encountering and connecting with people whilst walking, who were seeking to overcome major life events and find something that was missing from their lives; for Barry it was seeking traces of a once vibrant Jewish narrative, that has largely disappeared from Eastern Europe, by meeting the various custodians of memory: the historians, conservationists, archivists, forensic archaeologists, tour guides, academics and the visiting Jewish people tracing their family genealogy.
Paul’s project follows a number of Camino Pilgrimage routes, beginning at the town of Le Puy en Velay in southern France and ending 1700km later at the town of Muxia on the west coast of Spain; Barry travelled through southeast Poland and northwest Ukraine, following the old Chasidic Rabbi routes that led to surprising synagogues and rivers and transportation lines that inevitable led to the death camps. For both photographers the act of travelling to the places of original trauma and potential spirituality, treading in the footsteps of others, past and present, led to a deep sense of connection and understanding that informed the final projects.
For this event Paul and Barry will be sharing further insights into their projects, as well as signing copies of their book.
Space is limited, but you can reserve a place for the event here.
